Faculty

Profile

Impact Entrepreneur and Investor: Board Member-in-Residence, Mach49; Board Member, Circularity2; Board Member, Clara; Senior Advisor Impact, Eneration; Faculty, Parsons

With decades of operating, investment, and board experience, Rob focuses on impact as the driving factor in entrepreneurial and investment success and is a passionate advocate for climate and sustainability and social impact growth initiatives that both serve the planet and create enormous financial wins.

After earning degrees from Columbia University and Stanford Law School, and brief stints as a lawyer and an investment banker, Rob felt something was missing in his career. He yearned for the entrepreneurial spirit he'd been raised with, as his father — a Holocaust survivor — started his own business shortly after arriving in the US. When a struggling investment banking client offered Rob a chance to join their company, he jumped at it, and it wasn't long before he was asked to be the company’s CEO. Despite the odds, the company was sold a few years later to the benefit of shareholders, employees, and customers. That experience was a turning point for Rob, igniting his passion for innovation and defining the ways in which Rob could lead and contribute as an entrepreneur.

Rob went on to become CEO of two more technology companies, launched his own personal investment vehicle, Treehouse Capital, and has served on and chaired boards for both private and public companies, in addition to serving as a fund advisor and fund advisory/operating partner.

Having been a Clean Tech 1.0 survivor, Rob has been massively rejuvenated in the past few years to make impact entrepreneurship and investing the primary focus of the next third of his professional life.

Beyond the boardroom, Rob is a lifelong learner. He loves to immerse himself in books, films, and the arts in his free time — playing the role of a tourist in diverse fields like physics or artistic movements — but stays grounded in his daily workout routine and long-time vegan lifestyle. Above all else, Rob spends every moment he can with family and friends — something he learned the value of as a proud and grateful cancer survivor.

Degrees Held

Bachelor of Arts, Columbia University, 1986

Law Degree, Stanford Law School, 1989

Performances and Appearances

Rob did this podcast interview on many impact related topics: https://innovationstorytellers.com/podcasts/rob-majteles/